Tesla -Sales rose in Turkey over a loophole that has been patched

Tesla’s sales have risen to an unprecedented level in Turkey, where the US car manufacturer delivered almost as many vehicles last month as it did across the entire European market.

It happened because Tesla managed to take advantage of a loophole that has now been patched.

Turkey has a consumption tax rate (ÖTV) that varies depending on the type of car.

Earlier this year, they reduced the tax rate to 10% for EVs with a power of less than 160 kW.

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Tesla vehicles would not qualify for it, but the carmaker has resorted to one of his old tricks, which it also used to generate more sales in Canada back in 2021.

The US carmaker software locked the basic model Y RWD to only 160 kW power to qualify for the lower tax rate. This reduced the price significantly and resulted in an increase in orders.

Tesla delivered 8,730 Model Y vehicles in Turkey in August, which was roughly equivalent to the total amount it delivered in a very previous year in the country and comparable to around Tesla’s entire sales in Europe last month, after an approx. 40% decrease in sales.

Year to date, Tesla’s sales have now surpassed both earlier years combined:

However, Turkey has now patched the loophole. In July, the government announced that it would raise the base tax rate to 25% at the end of the month, but buyers could still benefit from the tax rate if they had an invoice before then.

This resulted in an increase in demand for Tesla vehicles in Turkey, as shown in the delivery results in August.

Demand was moved forward and Tesla is likely to see sales slowly of the year.

That said, Tesla should still see demand run higher than in previous years, as OTV was as high as 60%in the past.

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There has always been a strong demand for Tesla and electric vehicles in Turkey.

Back before Tesla officially entered the market, local EV enthusiasts imported private Tesla vehicles.

In the photo above, local early Tesla advocates in Turkey asked the carmaker to establish local service and superchargers to support the community.

I think there is a strong demand for Tesla vehicles in Turkey, but this specific wave is due to Tesla finding a loophole in the tax incentive and the logging hole has now been patched.